Commissioners plan to appeal to the 5th District Court of Appeal in Daytona Beach, said Shannon Wilson, assistant county attorney.

''We have already paid Mr. Turner what the commissioners feel he is entitled to under the administrative order,'' Wilson said. Turner received a check for $27,837.50, compensating him at $50 an hour, Wilson said.

Because of a conflict between Savage and the public defender's office, Johnston appointed Turner to represent Savage last year.

Savage was sentenced to death in January for killing Melbourne interior designer Barbara Ann Barber.

Commissioners believe Turner had an implied contract with the county under a 1983 administrative order that set court-appointed attorneys' fees at $50 an hour.

But Turner says his fees should be governed by an order signed last fall that says attorneys' fees can range from $60 to $150 an hour. Turner became Savage's lawyer in January 1989, but the order covers cases pending when it was signed.

Commissioners are also fighting the new fee schedule, saying it should have set a flat dollar rate, Wilson said.

If the county were to pay the fee the judge has ordered, it would wipe out the year's budget for court-appointed attorneys' fees, Wilson said.